• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.65-73
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• 2019

In this paper, we propose an algorithm that estimates the location of lunar rover using IMU and vision system instead of the dead-reckoning method using IMU and encoder, which is difficult to estimate the exact distance due to the accumulated error and slip. First, in the lunar environment, magnetic fields are not uniform, unlike the Earth, so only acceleration and gyro sensor data were used for the localization. These data were applied to extended kalman filter to estimate Roll, Pitch, Yaw Euler angles of the exploration rover. Also, the lunar module has special color which can not be seen in the lunar environment. Therefore, the lunar module were correctly recognized by applying the HSV color filter to the stereo image taken by lunar rover. Then, the distance between the exploration rover and the lunar module was estimated through SIFT feature point matching algorithm and geometry. Finally, the estimated Euler angles and distances were used to estimate the current position of the rover from the lunar module. The performance of the proposed algorithm was been compared to the conventional algorithm to show the superiority of the proposed algorithm.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.479-486
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• 2018

In order to ensure reliable navigation performance of a lunar exploration rover, navigation algorithms using additional sensors such as inertial measurement units and cameras are essential on lunar surface in the absence of a global navigation satellite system. Unprecedentedly, Visual Odometry (VO) using a stereo camera has been successfully implemented at the US Mars rovers. In this paper, we estimate the 6-DOF pose of the lunar exploration rover from gray images of a lunar-like terrains. The proposed algorithm estimates relative pose of consecutive images by sparse image alignment based semi-direct VO. In order to overcome vulnerability to non-linearity of direct VO, we add adaptive motion prior weights calculated from a linear function of the previous pose to the optimization cost function. The proposed algorithm is verified in lunar-like terrain dataset recorded by Toronto University reflecting the characteristics of the actual lunar environment.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.32 no.11
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• pp.97-108
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• 2016

Lunar rover plays an important role in lunar exploration. Especially, performance of rover wheel related to interaction with lunar soil is of great importance when it comes to optimization of rover's configuration. In this study, in order to investigate the motion performance of lunar rover's wheel on Korean Lunar Soil Simulant (KLS-1), a single wheel testbed was developed and used to carry out a series of experiments with two kinds of wheel with grousers and without grousers which were used to perform the experiments. Wheel traction performance was evaluated by using traction parameters such as drawbar pull, torque and sinkage correlated with slip ratio. The results showed that the single wheel testbed was suitable for evaluation of the performance of wheel and rover wheel with grousers which was likely to have higher traction performance than that without grousers in Korean Lunar soil simulant. The experimental results could be utilized in verification of the optimum wheel design and effectiveness of wheel traction for Korean lunar rover.

• Current Industrial and Technological Trends in Aerospace
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.27-34
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• 2008

One of the purposes of space exploration is to be able to utilize the unlimited natural resources in the universe. For this purpose, plans for lunar and mars bases have been proposed by leading nations. In order to construct bases and search for resources, it is necessary to employ and develop rovers for surface navigation and exploration. With proper knowledge about Lunar surface, technology for lunar rover development can be established without serious obstacles, since robot technology for rover development has been well prepared in Korea. In this paper, lunar rovers and mars rovers developed and planned by other countries as well as the current status of robot technology in Korea have been analyzed.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.45 no.10
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• pp.836-843
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• 2017

In lunar exploration, the necessity of utilizing rover is verified by the examples of the Soviet Union and China and the similar Mars missions of the United States. In order to achieve the successful management of a lunar rover, a high precision navigation technique is required, and accordingly, high precision initial alignment is essential. Even though it is general to perform initial alignment in a steady state, a multiposition alignment technique is applied when high performance is needed. On the lunar surface, however, the performance of initial alignment decreases from that on Earth, and it cannot be improved by applying multiposition alignment method owing to certain constraints of lunar environment. In this paper, a sun sensor aided multiposition alignment technique is proposed. The measurement model for a sun vector is established, and its observability analysis is performed. The performance of the proposed algorithm is verified through computer simulations, and the results show the estimation performance is improved dramatically.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.630-637
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• 2019

The scientific, economical and industrial values of the Moon have been increased, as massive ice-water and rare resource were founded from the lunar exploration missions. Korea and other major space agencies in the world are competitively developing the ISRU (In Situ Resource Utilization) technology to secure future lunar resource as well as to construct the lunar base. To prepare for the lunar construction, it is essential to develop the rover based construction spatial information technology to provide a decision-making aided information during the lunar construction process. Thus, this research presented the construction spatial information technology based upon rover's camera system. Specifically, the conceptual design of rover based camera system was designed for acquisition of a rover's navigation image, and lunar terrain and construction images around the rover. The reference architecture of the rover operation system was designed for computation of the lunar construction spatial information. Also, rover's localization and terrain reconstruction methods were introduced considering the characteristics of lunar surface environments. It is necessary to test and validate the conceptual design of the construction spatial information technology. Thus, in the future study, the developed rover and rover operation system will be applied to the lunar terrestrial analogue site for further improvements.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.437-444
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• 2020

A lunar rover's optical camera is used to provide navigation and terrain information in an exploration zone. However, due to the scant presence of atmosphere, the Moon has homogeneous terrain with dark soil. Also, in extreme environments, the rover has limited data storage with low computation capability. Thus, for successful exploration, it is required to examine feature detection and matching methods which are robust to lunar terrain and environmental characteristics. In this research, SIFT, SURF, BRISK, ORB, and AKAZE are comparatively analyzed with lunar terrain images from a lunar rover. Experimental results show that SIFT and AKAZE are most robust for lunar terrain characteristics. AKAZE detects less quantity of feature points than SIFT, but feature points are detected and matched with high precision and the least computational cost. AKAZE is adequate for fast and accurate navigation information. Although SIFT has the highest computational cost, the largest quantity of feature points are stably detected and matched. The rover periodically sends terrain images to Earth. Thus, SIFT is suitable for global 3D terrain map construction in that a large amount of terrain images can be processed on Earth. Study results are expected to provide a guideline to utilize feature detection and matching methods for future lunar exploration rovers.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.1-8
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• 2023

Space exploration is at the forefront of human scientific endeavors, and planetary exploration rovers play a critical role in studying planetary surfaces. Rover performance is especially vital for safely navigating steep terrain and delicate landscapes found on planets like Mars and the Moon. This paper offers a comprehensive overview of a landing testbed designed to simulate challenging extraterrestrial terrain and loose regolith. The paper briefly outlines lunar crater region topographical features and highlights the importance of these simulations in rover testing. It then explores previous landing testbed developments and describes the design process for a landing testbed to be installed in the dirty thermal vacuum chamber at the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology. Once realized, this proposed landing testbed will enable precise evaluations of rover mobility and exploration capabilities under lunar-like conditions, including high vacuum and extreme temperatures.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.237-250
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• 2021

A rover is a planetary surface exploration device designed to move across the ground on a planet or a planetary-like body. Exploration rovers are increasingly becoming a vital part of the search for scientific evidence and discoveries on a planetary satellite of the Sun, such as the Moon or Mars. Reliable behavior and predictable locomotion of a rover is important. Understanding soil behavior and its interaction with rover wheels-the terramechanics-is of great importance in rover exploration performance. Up to now, many researchers have adopted Bekker's semiempirical model to predict rover wheelsoil interaction, which is based on the assumption that soil is deformable when a pressure is applied to it. Despite this basic assumption of the model, the pressure-sinkage relation is not fully understood, and it continues to present challenges for rover designers. This article presents a new pressure-sinkage model based on dimensional analysis (DA) and results of bevameter tests. DA was applied to the test results in order to propose a new pressure-sinkage model by reducing physical quantitative parameters. As part of the work, a new bevameter was designed and built so that it could be successfully used to obtain a proper pressure-sinkage relation of Korean Lunar Soil Simulant (KLS-1). The new pressure-sinkage model was constructed by using three different sizes of flat plate diameters of the bevameter. The newly proposed model was compared successfully with other models for validation purposes.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.79-85
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• 2024

Nowadays, the trend in lunar exploration missions is shifting from prospecting lunar surface to utilizing in-situ resources and establishing sustainable bridgehead. In the past, experiments were mainly focused on rover maneuvers and equipment operations. But the current shift in trend requires more complex experiments that includes preparations for resource extraction, space construction and even space agriculture. To achieve that, the experiment requires a sophisticated simulation of the lunar environment, but we are not yet prepared for this. Particularly, in the case of lunar regolith simulants, precise physical and chemical composition with a rapid development speed rate that allows different terrains to be simulated is required. However, existing lunar regolith simulants, designed for 20th-century exploration paradigms, are not sufficient to meet the requirements of modern space exploration. In order to prepare for the latest trends in space exploration, it is necessary to innovate the methodology for producing simulants. In this study, the basic framework for lunar regolith simulant development was established to realize this goal. The framework not only has a sample database and a database of potential simulation target compositions, but also has a built-in function to automatically calculate the optimal material mixing ratio through the particle swarm optimization algorithm to reproduce the target simulation, enabling fast and accurate simulant development. Using this framework, we anticipate a more agile response to the evolving needs toward simulants for space exploration.